Life, bucket lists, and ballooning

No, really! It may seem cliché but doesn’t it seem like just yesterday that you were 10 years old just wishing you were 12. Or 15, wishing you were 16! Or 20 wishing you were… well, you get my point.

In recent years, it’s become more and more popular to assemble a bucket list. You know: things you want to do before you kick it. On the surface, it may seem frivolous or silly but a bucket list can help you clarify and focus on the most important thing in life: living it!

Why should you start a bucket list? Well Honey, you’re not getting any younger, are you? Goals are a good thing; without them, we lack direction. Achieving or exceeding a personal goal (no matter how small) is a great feeling.

Your bucket list should consist of detailed and concrete goals, dreams and quests. Don’t just say you want to travel; say you want to see the Great Wall of China, go on safari in Kenya, visit the Vatican. Set easy to achieve goals, too: learn to dance, go skiing, camp under the stars. Setting seemingly impossible goals is also important: climb Mount Everest, become fluent in Cantonese, take a lap at the Indy 500.

Whatever you do, write it down. Keep a journal, start a Pinterest board, wallpaper your home with bucket list sticky notes, tattoo them on your back. Make yourself accountable.

To get you started, here are 10 of my favorites (bet you can guess what #1 is!):